immense

Compared meaning: large in size or amount (adjective).

比较义项：体积、范围很大（形容词）。

• immense 本词

  The strongest of the four, meaning extremely large; formal or literary in tone; typically describes vast areas, amounts or abstract things (immense wealth, immense pressure) rather than small everyday objects like a dog or a cup.

  四个词中语气最强，表示“极其巨大”；语体正式、偏书面；常用来形容广阔的地域、巨额的数量或抽象事物（如immense wealth“巨额财富”、immense pressure“巨大的压力”），不常用来形容狗、杯子这类日常小物件。

  The new dam holds back an immense volume of water from the river.

  这座新水坝拦住了这条河流的巨量的水。

• great

  In this size sense great is old-fashioned and mainly appears in set phrases (great height, great distance, of great size); using it alone with an ordinary object sounds odd and is easily confused with great meaning 'excellent'.

  在表示“大”这个意义上，great比较古雅，主要出现在固定搭配中（如great height“很高”、great distance“很远”）；单独用来修饰普通物品会显得很怪，也容易和great表示“极好的”这个常用义混淆。

  The two cities are separated by a great distance.

  这两座城市相距很远。

• big

  The everyday, informal word for size, used freely in casual speech with people, animals and objects (a big dog, a big smile); the default choice when a formal tone is not needed.

  是日常口语中最常用的“大”，可以自由用来形容人、动物、物品（如a big dog“一只大狗”、a big smile“灿烂的笑容”）；在不需要正式语气时是最自然的选择。

  That's a really big dog for such a small apartment.

  对于这么小的公寓来说，这真是一只大狗。

• large

  A neutral, slightly more formal alternative to big, common in writing and with measurable things (a large house, a large amount); sounds more polite than big but less dramatic than immense.

  是比big更正式、中性的说法，常用于书面语，以及可量化的事物（如a large house“一栋大房子”、a large amount“大量”）；听起来比big更礼貌，但不如immense那么强烈。

  They rented a large apartment with three separate bedrooms.

  他们租了一套有三间独立卧室的大公寓。

All four mean large, but differ in tone. Immense is strongest, meaning extremely large and formal. Great is old-fashioned here, seen in phrases like 'great height'; casually, great usually means 'excellent,' not compared here. Big is everyday and informal. Large is more formal than big.

这四个词在“大”这个意义上是近义词，但语气强弱和使用场合不同：immense语气最强，正式书面；great表示“大”时比较古雅，多用于固定搭配，日常口语中更常见的是它“极好的、令人愉快的”这个义项（这里不比较，如例句“We had a great time”用的就是那个义项）；big和large是最常用的说法，large比big略正式。